Chapter 12

Aftermath

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Terra screamed as she shot up in her bed in a cold sweat, for a second she didn't know where she was, the dark room was unfamiliar, and it wasn't until she saw the unforgettable crest above the fireplace that she realized where she was: Blaze Manor.

It had been a week since the accident, not that it hadn't taken Terra 24 hours to realize that she couldn't stay at home, it was too painful, everything there reminded her of her father, and how he had died without her forgiveness. And now he was gone. She remembered when she had to go to the morgue to identify his body with Whisper and her mom, she had prepared herself for the worse, thinking that he would have been burned beyond recognition, but it hadn't been like that. He looked just the same as he had the morning that she had left for the States.

When the flames had been extinguished and the firemen were able to go in they had discovered that their parents along with Famous, Keifer, and Manuela had been placed in the underground bunker and that they should have been safe, however Regal had reversed the airflow so instead of drawing the smoke out, their family and friends had died a slow and painful suffocating death as the deadly gray fog seeped in and stole their lives. It was a slap to the face, their parents could have been saved, but the flames from the fire had prevented anyone from doing so.

Terra had to give Regal his props, he knew how to play them. As she stared at the ceiling Terra knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. At least not yet, so swinging her feet over the side of the huge bed she did what she had every night before. As she left their room she was starting by another voice.

"She still can't sleep?" came the concerned voice, it was Proto.

"Huh?" Terra asked turning around.

"Oh sorry," Proto apologized, "I thought you were Skyler."

"Well it's easy enough to make that mistake," Terra replied, "we are twins, and this house it pitch black at night, I feel like I should be carrying a torch or something."

"That and this is probably the first time I've ever seen you with your hair all the way down."

"Yeah that too."

"Nightmares?"

Terra nodded, "Yeah, I keep seeing the explosion over and over in my head every time I close my eyes. I don't think it's ever going to go away."

"I'm sure it will," Proto replied, "it'll be hard but one day you'll find that it won't consume your every thought. You can trust me on this."

Terra shook her head, "No, no it won't."

"Why?"

"Because I never forgave him Emery, ever since Whisper showed his hand that day when Regal kidnapped us, he's been seeking it but I refused to give it him. And now's he dead."

Proto looked down at his friend, he wanted to say something, give some words of comfort but he didn't have any. "Come on," he said as he picked up the guilt ridden girl. "let's get you down stairs."

"Do you really think it's necessary to carry me?" Terra asked, "I have made it down stairs by myself every other night for the past week."

"Nice to see your personality's still intact." Proto replied not letting her down. "Just consider it a friendly gesture."

When the two made it downstairs into the den they saw that everyone else was already there, Chaud, Lan, Mega, even Whisper, it had kinds become an impromptu tradition for them. No one could sleep so one by one the would all wake up, and one by one they would filter into the den and then after about an hour they would all fall asleep due to exaustion. Tonight everyone else was already asleep except Chaud who seamed to be filling out some papers.

"Please tell me you're not working," Terra stated softly once Proto finally let her go, "3a.m is bad, even for you."

Chaud smiled, "Ok, you caught me." He replied. "But its not what you think."

"Really?" Terra asked as she collapsed next to Chaud's chair placing her head on the arm rest, "what is it then?"

"Admission forms," Chaud answered, "if I'm going to start school with you guys in the fall I need to get these filled out and sent in on time. What's wrong?" Chaud asked as he looked back at his friend, Terra suddenly seamed sadder as usual.

"Nothing," Terra replied, "it's just that I hadn't even thought about what school's going to be like now. Everyone walking on eggshells around you, coming up with mock sympathy, an untold amount of trips to the guidance counselor. And I thought I had seen my last shrink when I finally finished grief counseling five years ago."

"Oh come on it couldn't have been that bad."

"I never said it was, my shrink was nice, really gentle and sweet, she understood. She wasn't like a lot of psychologists out there, she asked the necessary questions, but she wasn't harsh or robotic, and she didn't make even the smallest of things seem trivial, to her they all played a role. But that doesn't mean I want to go through all that again."

"I understand that, but it dose help to talk to an unbiased 3rd party."

"I know that, but I'm just not ready for it yet." Terra replied when all of a sudden the quite atmosphere was broken when Lan stated snoring loudly, she smiled when almost automatically Mega who was laying next to him shut his open mouth. "They never cease to amaze me," Terra continued, "I can't even begin to imagine what they're going through right now. They were just starting to get really close to Dr. Hikari. From what they told me this was the longest he had been home sine Hub 'died.'"

"Yeah," Chaud replied, "and speaking of you, Tasha left you another five messages today, are you going to answer them this time?"

"What'd you think?" Terra asked.

"You're going to have to answer them sometime Terra, she's your friend, and she's worried about you."

"Well I don't feel like talking to her, and when I do, I will."

"You shouldn't resent her."

"Who said I resented her?"

"No one but it's quite obvious. Tasha's mom works at Scilab too, and if she hadn't been in Tokyo she'd be dead. Only that didn't happen. But it's not like she didn't come out of this unscathed, she did lose her uncle."

"Yeah I guess," Terra replied as she looked up at Chaud, "You don't have to be so strong you know. You lost more people than anyone. You deserve time to grieve too."

"Someone had too."

"But it didn't have to be you," Terra stated as she got to her knees so she could get closer, that was when she saw it, the slight red tinge in Chaud's eyes, and the line of dried tears on his cheeks, he'd been crying. Terra was amazed, she knew Chaud had broken down when he had lost Protoman to the darkness but she hadn't personally seen it. The last time she had seen him cry was when….beep, beep, beep, beep, "What's that?" Terra asked as her train of thought was derailed when someone's PET started to go off.

"Sounds like someone's PET alarm." Chaud replied.

"Yeah but where is it?" Terra asked as she began to look around. Wherever it was it was under something.

"Uhhhh, what's going on?" Lan asked groggily as he woke up, "What's that noise?"

"Lan answer your PET, it's driving me crazy," Mega said as the alarm knocked him out of stasis.

"He could if we could find it," Terra replied as she slipped her hand under a couch cushion, "Lan, where'd you put it?"

"That's not my PET."

"What'd you mean?"

"I mean that's not my PET, that's not my alarm."

"Believe me Lan it's your PET," Mega stated, "I should know I'm linked to the thing."

"He has a point." Terra continued as she kept digging around, "See?" Terra said as she finally found it tossing it to Lan, "You have an e-mail, it says it's urgent."

"Who would send a message this late?" Lan asked as he caught the handheld, opening the electronic message, with Mega looking over his shoulder, not two seconds after he had he went completely pale, so did his brother.

"What's wrong?" Chaud asked when the two seemed to freeze in place, "You two look like you're seeing a ghost."

"Almost," Lan replied, "do you think it's possible to get an e-mail from the dead?"

"What are you talking about?" Terra asked.

"Look for yourself," Mega stated as he handed Terra and Chaud the PET so they could see for themselves.

"This is impossible…" Terra breathed as she and Chaud looked at the screen, the message had no subject but it had been signed by Dr. Hikari.

Dr. Regal sat in silence, everything had worked according to plan, the netsaver organization was in shambles, and their star protégées were mortally wounded, things couldn't have been any more perfect. Or so he thought. A few moments later his silence was interrupted when Timeman entered the room. "What is it?" he asked.

"We have a problem," Timeman stated, "There was a survivor."

"Dr. Hikari…" Regal said as a sudden damper was placed on his Whisper, "You know what to do."

"Yes, master."

"Are you going to open it?" Terra asked as she handed Lan back his PET.

"I'm not sure, it doesn't make any sense." Lan replied, "he died a week ago, how could we get an e-mail from him now?"

"He must have programed a final message in case something like this happened. Maybe he knew Regal was up to something. It might be why he didn't object for our trip." Mega stated, "Besides what's the risk? Lan?" Mega asked when Lan didn't respond.

"OMG," Lan breathed as he looked at his handheld, "look at this," Lan said as he handed his PET to Mega.

"I can't believe it."

"What? What dose it say?" Chaud asked.

"He's alive…."

"What?" Terra asked as she snatched Lan's PET reading the message herself:

Dear boys,

If you're reading this letter there's a good chance that I've come to some harm, perhaps even death, but be brave, take care of each other and rest assured that I haven't left you and your mother. If I have passed away take an empty PET to the morgue, and all will become clear. Hub will know what to do.

Terra paused as she took in what the message meant. The words were vague but to their group they were crystal clear.

"You don't think he…" Terra said as she trailed off as her eyes inadvertently landed on Mega.

"I think he did…"

"I can't believe we're doing this…" Whisper stated as she and the rest of the gang walked around the dark Coroner's office. "It's insane, how are we going to explain this?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." Proto suggested.

"When we get there?" Whisper asked again in a hushed exclamation, "we're already halfway across it!"

"Sis, chill," Terra chided, "the guard'll hear you."

"Why do they have guards in a morgue anyway?" Lan asked.

"Who knows?" Terra replied as she threw up her hands.

"Terra?" Chaud asked.

"What?"

Chaud was slightly taken aback when Terra snapped at him. "This is really getting to you isn't it?" he asked.

The girl rolled her eyes, "Kinda," Terra admitted, "the last time I was in here I was identifying my father's body."

"Can we please not talk about death?" Mega asked.

"Quite an ironic thing to ask when you in a morgue," Terra pointed out, "Why? Dose it remind you of your own 'death'?"

Mega shuddered, "Thanks,"

"Sorry,"

Whisper sighed as she looked up at Proto, "think we're the only ones still sane?" she asked.

"Proto smiled, "looks like it," he replied as he lifted his flashlight illuminating a cold metal door, the one they had been looking for. "we're here."

Everyone came to a complete stop at that time, this was it.

"Hikari's first," Terra stated as she and everyone else stepped aside for the two brothers to pass through.

Mega walked up to the door first turning the knob and finding that it was unlocked. Once the door was opened and had closed behind them it was like they had stepped into a tomb. The room was cold; sterile, and everything was stainless steel which caused the room to have an eerie glow in the moonlight, even the instruments and the scalpels were set out for an autopsy that was due to be done the next day which made it all the more creepy.

"You ready for this?" Proto asked as he watched Mega and Lan stand before the body cooler that their father's body lay in.

"No one should be ready for this," Mega commented as he grasped the handle of the cooler drawer, he thought about what was coming next. He didn't know if he was ready for this, if any of them were. But quickly and swiftly he opened the vault, being met with another burst of cold air and their father's lifeless body. Both boys took in a sharp breath. Terra couldn't help but stare at the drawer that her own father was in.

"What now?" Whisper asked.

"We follow his instructions," Mega replied, "as he held the empty PET up to his father's body, "and wait."

A few seconds later the PET Mega held started to glow and dim, and not too soon after so did a place along Dr. Hikari's neck. After a while the pulses of light started to change at the same rate as if the PET and Dr. Hikari's body were coming into sync of somehow. A few seconds later commands and programs began to scroll across the screen until the download was complete and everything was compliled into the Hikari family logo that was left rotating roung and round on the screen.

Terra and Whisper simultaneously caught their breath, "OMG,"

"How did the ME miss that?" Proto asked breaking the silence.

"ME's don't generally slash open a person's throat during an autopsy," Lan replied speaking for the first time since the group had entered the morgue, "it would make it pretty hard so have an open casket service." No one laughed, the joke wasn't funny, but it was proof of how warping grief was.

"I don't believe this…" Mega stated as he gazed at the PET, "he really did it." The gang had gotten in and out of the morgue undetected and were back at Chaud's.

"Yeah…" Terra commented, "this question is going to be completely off subject, but how is your mom going to take this?"

Lan and Mega both gave each other blank looks.

"Dose she know?" Terra asked.

"Let me put it this way," Mega replied, "even Lan and I didn't know."

"That's not exactly saying much," Lan added, his tone was low and distant.

A little bit later the PET let out a loud melodious tone as a figure started to appear on the screen. Looking at each other Chaud, Terra, Emery and Whisper thought it would be best to go, however when Terra started to get up Lan caught her hand, causing her and everyone else to stop, and by then it was too late for anybody to leave. The glow that was released by the PET swallowed the entire room and once it cleared there was Dr. Hikari standing there in the materialized pixel. Everyone was speechless as they looked at the man they had just seen lying in a body cooler. When the scientist walked up to them Lan was the fist to speak.

"Dad?" Lan asked in question as his father's hand came to rest on his face, the chocolate eyed teen slowly brought up his own hand to touch his father's as if he was trying to make his brain understand that he was really there.

Timeman grinned from inside one of the nearby security monitors, his timing couldn't have been anymore perfect.

"My boys," Dr. Hikari replied as he pulled both Lan and Mega into a tight embrace. "I'll never leave you again," both sons, as well as everyone else in the room were close to tears when Dr. Hikari's unreadable look soon turned to one of pain when a plasma shot was heard, the blast had hit the doctor square in the back and ripped through his newly formed frame then struck both Lan and Mega blowing them back.

"Dad, Dr. Hikari!" everyone yelled as their voices overlapped when they saw the man drop to his knees in pain.

"Oh, I'm sorry did I just ruin you little family reunion?" a voice asked as a dark figure stepped out of the shadows, it was Timeman, the six teens turned their attention to the darkloid.

"And just who are you." Chaud demanded as he helped Mega to his feet.

"The name's Timeman." the darkloid replied, "and I've received direct orders to take care of the good doctor...permanently." he then raised his right arm as it transformed, breaking and reshaping until it formed into some type of cannon and slowly started charging up, "hope you've said good-by, erasure!" the navi exclaimed as he released a condensed attack directing it solely at Dr. Hikari.

"NO DAD!" Mega exclaimed as he jumped in front of his father erecting a shield to defer his blast, "Life aura battlechip in," he exclaimed as the barrier appeared just in time to block the attack as the inferno washed over. That had been too close.

"Well that was less than ideal," Timeman commented once he realized that his attack had had no effect, it seamed as if he had underestimated his opponents.

Lan looked on from his place where he had landed from the first attack, he couldn't believe this was happening, and slowly an inferno of righteous rage began to burn within him. This wasn't going to happen, not again, he had already lost part of his family once. He rose to he feet.

"I would suggest you leave now while you still can, you not going to get the option twice." Lan commented as he gave an icy death glare to the darkloid, it sent shiver down everyone's spine, no one had ever heard Lan's voice that dark or that serious.

Timeman laughed, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA, are you serious?" he asked, "You expect me to be afraid of some 14 year old twerp? Please, I'm shaking in my boots." the darkloid continued as he raised his other hand emitting a plasma blast from his palm directed at Lan.

"Huuh, Lan!" Terra gasped as she watched the fireball head Lan's way, being completely shocked by the outcome when Lan simply crossed his arms bringing them out on the front of himself as a crystallined shield appeared before him and absorbed Timeman's attack.

Lan's stony expression didn't change, "Shaking now?" he asked as he challenged the darkloid. "If you want to kill my father, you'll have to get through me first."

"What the?" Terra asked herself as she watched the remnants of the shield disappeared, how had that happened? Lan wasn't even crossfused.

"Lan..." Mega stated softly as he looked over at his brother, he hadn't ever seen him like this.

Timeman grinned balefully, "Oh this is going to be fun," he whispered to himself as he prepared for another strike, the boy wasn't his target but one less netsaver always furthered Nebula's cause.

"Alarm Sword," he exclaimed as a saber blade with what seamed like a digital clock face appeared on his right arm, "when I'm done with you, you're going to be nothing more than a memory, punk, RRRHHHUUUAAA," Timeman roared as he advanced on Lan, only to find himself blocked, when a longsword suddenly appeared in Lan's grasp. But the joke was on Lan because as soon as his sword came in contact with Timeman's, the darkloid's blade began to admit a high frequency tone that was unbearable to hear, and Lan instinctively shrunk back.

"Bad idea kid." Timeman said he used the back of his free hand to slap Lan with such force that he was knocked to the ground.

"Lan!" Mega exclaimed when he was his little brother drop, he was just about to act when he saw something appear in front of him for a second, touching the space he discovered that a forcefield had been put in place.

"Sorry," Timeman stated, "but if the little boy wants to become a man and fight, he can't have any interference from big brother...or his friends," Timeman continued as he erected another forcefield trapping everyone else.

"UUHHH," Lan groaned as he picked himself off the ground, wiping his sleeve across his face noticing that his nose was bleeding. "Please," Lan said as he turned to face the darkloid again. "is that all you got?"

"Well what'd you know, the kid has moxy." the darkloid commented as a bright flashing sword appeared in his hand replacing the saber, "too much of that'dll kill ya."

"Funny," Lan replied as he stood up as his crossfusion activated, "I've always head it was a gift."

"Oh this is bad," Mega commented as he looked on at the ensuing battle, "there's no way he's going to win he's gonna get himself killed."

"Anger blinds." Protoman stated.

"Exactly," Mega replied, "I've never seen him like this before we have to do something."

"Muramasa, battlechip in!" Lan exclaimed when Timeman advanced, being able to parry him remarkably well.

"Pretty good," Timeman commented as he held his ground, "But not good enough if you want to win this game," he commented as he spun around kicking Lan in the stomach knocking him against the forcefield.

"UUUHHH," Lan groaned as he started to pick himself up.

"Lan watch out!" Mega exclaimed when he saw Timeman charge again, Lan only managed to dodged at the last second. "UUUHHH!"

"Mega what's wrong?" Whisper asked as she watched Mega clutch his stomach.

"It's the link," Mega replied as he continued to wince, "it's the same place Lan was kicked."

"It must be fully opened then.." Terra commented

"Yeah, it is." Mega said as he managed to get to his feet again. "Whisper do you think you can crack the code on this forcefield?"

"I can try," the girl replied, "It might take a while though, if this darkloid's smart he would have put it on a rotator."

"Just try and do it as fast as you can," Mega said as he felt another jolt of pain. "Lan's in trouble."

"Vulcan, battlechip in!" Lan called out as the spreader gun appeared on his arm firing all the plasma shots even though none of them hit their target, Timeman easily dodged them.

"Kinda hard to focus when you know you're going to lose isn't it? Timewarp!" Timeman exclaimed when the suddenly appeared in front of Lan thumping him on the forehead," Timeline!" the darkloid exclaimed as a wide line of energy emanated from his body and blasted Lan again throwing him against a nearby wall. Lan groaned as he slid down the wall. "Is that all you got?" Timeman asked as he walked toward his victim, "I expected more out of you Lan, you're disappointing me."

"Oh you haven't seen nothin yet," Lan replied darkly as he raised his head, his eyes glowing with power.

"UUUGGHAAA!" Mega groaned out in pain as he slumped back down to the floor in agony, he felt like is very soul was being ripped out of him.

"Mega!" Terra exclaimed when she saw her friend collapse, "Mega? Mega? Hub, what's wrong?" the girl asked as she pulled the blue bomber from the floor and into her lap with Chaud and Proto at her side.

"It's the link," Mega said as he struggled to speak, "it's never been like this before, it's never been this open, I can feel everything...he's in so much pain."

"Never?" Terra asked, "not even before..." Terra trailed off as she looked up at her two friends, "we have to do something fast, if it's as open as he's suggesting and Lan comes to some serious injury, there's no telling what might happen."

"Dash attack battlechip in!" Lan exclaimed as he grabbed hold of the fishy virus as soon as it appeared, and flew toward Timeman slamming his feet into his midrift and striking him with his sword while the darkloid was down.

"So how do you like that?" Lan asked as he walked up to the fallen navi.

"Perfectly," the darkloid replied as his hands suddenly sparked with power and something that seemed like electrodes shot out and into Lan making him scream in pain and collapse.

"AAAHHHH!" Mega yelled at the same time as Lan's pain flowed over into him.

"Oh, Hub,..." Terra breathed as she looked at her friend, she couldn't even fathom the amount of pain he was in. "How's the code breaker doing?" Terra asked Chaud as she looked up at the boy.

"Can't tell," Chaud replied as he looked at Whisper who's hands were placed up to the forcefield and whose body seamed to flash with 0s and 1s, every now and then her hands would move to another place, "you know she doesn't like to be disturbed."

"Yeah," Terra replied with a smile until her eyes moved to Dr. Hikari, the man hadn't said a word since he had first been attacked, and now both of his children were in danger, "You have any idea what up with the good doctor?" Terra asked.

Chaud looked at her with an expression showing he'd been wondering the same thing, "No clue,"

Terra sighed, "Well one things for sure," she said as she looked down at Mega, "if he's in this much pain Lan's in serious danger."

Dr. Hikari gazed at the scene, his heart was torn, he had a promise to keep, but what good would that promise be if his family was shattered beyond repair? He closed his eyes as he made his decision. He hoped he would have their forgiveness...

Whisper was keeping up her concentration as best she could as she ran through he numerous codes, however that was proving difficult, everything was bombarding her at once, stimuluses from the net and from around her. But as she continued to work she noticed that the codes seamed to be clearing and she could just make out the light at the end of the tunnel...

Lan lay on the ground writhing in pain as his mind began to clear, what had he done? In one blind moment of fury he had gotten himself into some serious trouble, and this time there was no way out...

"Help..."

"I got it!" Whisper exclaimed suddenly, when the gang turned around to look they could see the forcefield seam to freeze and then break apart as it dissipated.

"Great now we can..." Proto began to say but stopped when the barrier reappeared, "you didn't take out the back-up sub system?" the navi asked in annoyance.

"What?" the girl asked in surprise, "Of course I did!" Whisper exclaimed as her feelings got hurt, "you think I would take a chance like that with Lan's life?"

"I didn't say that," Proto replied as he suddenly found himself on the defense.

"Well that's what it sounded like-"

"Guys!" Terra exclaimed as she cut her sister off, "as much as I think all of us would love to continue listing to your lover's quarrel I think we can all agree that there are some more important things going on here. One being: where's Dr. Hikari?" Terra said as she asked, calling attention to the fact that the man was no longer with them.

"What?" Proto asked as he looked around seeing that the he really wasn't there.

"Dr. Hikari?" Whisper asked in quite surprise when she noticed that the father was outside the forcefield. When the man turned around she could see pain in his eyes.

"What is he doing?" Chaud asked.

"Prepare to meet your end kid," Timeman stated as he stood over the motionless netsaver with his alarm sword held in both his hands over his head, "it's all over," he continued as he brought down his deadly blade, but was surprised when a barrier was erected just in time to save the boy. When the darkloid looked up to see who was responsible he was met with a pair of eyes that were even more stern then the boy's could ever be.

"Get...away...from...my son." the doctor stated as he stepped over his child protecting him from any more attacks. "If you want me fine, just don't think I'm going to go down without a fight."

Timeman smirked, this was just what he had been waiting for.

"Dad?" Lan asked groggily as he began to come around.

"Everything's fine son," Yuuchiro replied, "just get to safety."

"But..." Lan started to say when he realized just what his dad was proposing, but he was interrupted.

"Lan you'll do as I say, I'm not losing another child."

Lan looked up at his father and saw the pain in his eyes, somewhere he found the strength to get back to his feet. "I love you," Lan whispered as he stepped back until the forcefield closed over him.

"I love you too." Dr. Hikari replied as he turned back to face the darkloid.

"Dr. Hikari's the one who re-erected the forcefield isn't he?" Terra asked as she and everyone else prepare to view the battle.

"Yeah," Whisper replied softly as she placed her hands on Lan's shoulders, a tear running down her cheek.

"Your time's just about run out doctor." Timeman stated as another blade formed on his arm, "are you ready to meet your end?"

"I won't let you and Regal break up my family," Dr. Hikari replied as a long sword appeared in his right hand.

"I think we both know that quite inevitable Yuuchiro." the darkloid said as he charged.

"Ok," Terra stated as she watched the two men begin to go at it, "I know that this probably isn't the time to ask this, but dose your dad know how to battle?"

"Guess we'll find out won't we?" Proto suggested.

"RRHHHHHAA!" Timeman exclaimed as he rushed Dr. Hikari only to find himself having been perfectly parried, he pushed himself back, "Guess this'll be harder then I thought," he commented.

Dr. Hikari remained silent.

"Fine then be that way," Timeman states as two objects appeared in both his hands, "timebomb!" Timeman exclaimed as he threw the two explosives Dr. Hikari's way, who safely dodged them.

"Wow, your Dad's got some moves," Chaud commented.

"Hero sword, battlechip in!" Dr. Hikari called out as he received the heavily hilted blade charging his opponent.

"Well," Timeman said as he watched the doctor head toward him, "at least I know where the moxy comes from," he then brought his sword back up blocking Dr. Hikari's attack.

As much fun as this was he had to admit that it was time for it to end. While he and the doctor were still in deadlock Timeman silently reshaped his free hand into a long sharp blade, he smiled, if this didn't do him in he didn't know what would.

"You know Doctor," Timeman stated as he prepared for his final attack, "I hope you've atoned for all your sins." For a second Dr. Hikari looked confused, that was until he felt a strange sensation, looking down he saw that a second blade had struck him, his vision started to blur, and could barely hear the reaction from the children.

"OMG," Terra breathed, she suddenly felt light headed and faint, Lan and Mega were so shocked they couldn't do anything, Chaud and Proto were stunned.

"It's time to say good-bye doctor," Timeman said as he activated the rest of his sword and it suddenly split into three causing Dr. Hikari irreversible damage, Timeman grinned as he watched Dr. Hikari start to depixelate...that was until he realized that he had received a mortal wound of his own, looking down he could see that Dr. Hikari had struck him through his crest.

"You..." Timeman uttered as he found it suddenly hard to speak, he could feel his energy and power begin to drain. By this time Dr. Hikari had completely disappeared.

"What's going on?" Whisper asked shakily, tears running down her face. Dr. Hikari was gone but Timeman was still there, his data slowly leaking out, but she could tell that it wasn't over yet, something else was going on, this wasn't a simple deletion, the darkloid was about to erupt.

"NO...NO NO!" Timeman roared as he began to disappear, soon something that appeared to be a black hole formed in the place of his crest and began to suck in the remainder of his body. After that the whole room seamed to warp.

"No...it's not possible..." Chaud breathed as he looked at the room as it began to twist and turn and even momentarily change color.

"What's not possible?" Terra asked in a stressed and hushed tone.

"The collapse of space time..." Chaud replied.

"What?" Mega asked in an empty voice.

"The net," Chaud replied, "it's manipulable space where anything and everything is possible and anything can happen. But our reality isn't so fortunate. Ever since navi's have been able to appear in the real world I've always wondered what effect their powers would have."

"And Timeman had control over time and space in the net." Proto added.

"Exactly, it seams as if Timeman's deletion in reality without the aid of a dimensional area has had an effect that no one could have foreseen."

"So what's going to happen now?" Lan asked.

"I don't know, but whatever it is we're about to find out." Chaud replied as Timeman's depixelation seemed to reach its climax when the blackhole began to sparkle and glow with pure energy, when it seemed to have reached it's limit the dark ball imploded sending out ring after ring of energy and power. The gang watched helplessly as the waves flew toward them and broke through the forcefield slamming them to the floor.

"!"

"AAAAAHHHHH!" Terra exclaimed as she shot up in her bed, for a second she didn't know where she was, looking at the clock she could see that it was 4:30am. After a while she noticed that she wasn't alone in the bed either. Looking over to her left she could see Whisper sound sleep, even though she did seam restless. Looking even further she could see Maylu and Roll in the bed next to her. She was still in LA. It had all been a dream?

Dark Whisper sighed worriedly as she watched the security footage of Dark Protoman and Dark Megaman leading a beaten Dr. Javedson into the underground bunker with the rest of Dr. Regal's captives. They were running out of options and time, and they still didn't have a plan. She was just about to switch off the cameras when she caught herself. Hadn't she done this before?

TBC